1. The Technical Field
The present invention is directed generally to portable containers useful for the shipping and/or storage of goods and materials and for field housing applications, and more particularly to an improved foldable portable container.
2. The Prior Art
The efficiency and costs associated with the moving, shipping and/or storage of various goods and materials has been greatly improved through the use portable containers that can be easily transported to different locations by a suitable carrier such as a truck or ship. These containers are provided in a wide size range varying from relatively small volume containers that are particularly suitable for storage and moving applications to larger volume containers suitable for the transport of goods and materials by rail or ship.
One drawback found to be present with previously known portable containers is that these containers, empty or filled, require the same space for transportation and storage purposes. This problem has been addressed by utilizing foldable containers which can be shipped and stored and then unfolded for receiving storable goods and subsequent storage or shipping and storage of the loaded containers. Such a foldable container which when folded occupies a significantly smaller volume than when in an unfolded state has been provided by Peter S. Warhurst et al as shown and described in United States Patent Application Publication, No. US2007/0108204 A1, published May 17, 2007. Another such foldable container is described by Ono et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,034, issued Aug. 4, 1987. Both the publication and the patent are directed to a foldable portable container having foldable end walls pivotally attached to the container floor or to the roof and sidewalls that are folded in the middle and are pivotally attached to both the roof and the floor. The end walls are pivotally folded flat and then the side walls are folded inwardly, accordion style, along with the attached roof to provide a folded container of a significantly reduced volume. The empty containers are unfolded for use in the envisioned application by reversing the folding operation. Inasmuch as the side walls and the attached roof are cumbersome and relatively heavy for manually handling a lifting mechanism such as provided by a fork lift or crane is used to support the roof during both the container folding and unfolding operations.